‘If we come back, you gonna dead,’ witness said cops threatened him

As the prosecution yesterday began mounting its case against two policemen accused of murder, a Clarendon resident testified that Detective Corporal Kevin Adams and Constable Jerome Whyte invaded his home on February 13, 2012, in search of Anthony ‘Toby’ Trought.

The allegations are that Adams and Whyte murdered Trought that day in Clarendon in cold blood.

Adams and Whyte are among 13 cops from the Clarendon Police Division who were charged in 2014 by the Independent Commission of Investigations for allegedly carrying out extrajudicial killings as part of a so-called death squad based in the parish.

Testifying in the trial of the two cops at the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston, the witness said that he told the policemen that Trought was not at around, and after further questioning, they decided to leave.

He said before Adams left, he summoned him outside and said to him, “We gonna leave, and if me come back, you gonna dead.”

“You ain’t got to kill anybody ‘cause we not wrongdoers here,” he told the court.

He testified that when the police left and they were approaching the bridge that gives access to the community, they observed Trought’s motor vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

He said Trought, who was in the car with a man only identified as ‘Cha Cha’, stopped to allow the officers to cross the single-lane bridge.

The witness said that after the police had passed, Trought drove across the bridge and then he observed the police making a U-turn, heading back in his direction.

He said he unsuccessfully tried to signal to Trought to stop.

SMOKING

Earlier in the proceedings, the witness told the court that on the day in question, he was in his bedroom smoking a cigarette with another man, identified only as Berris, who was smoking a spliff, when the accused cops entered the house brandishing their firearms.

He said the cops were dressed in casual clothing.

The witness said Whyte was standing just outside the bedroom in the living room area.

At this juncture, the witness said Adams asked him if he knew who he was.

“Is you them call Addie?” the witness said he asked in response, adding that there was no answer from Adams.

The witness said Adams began asking about Trought’s whereabouts.

The witness said he told Adams, “Him no deh yah.”

He told the court that Adams asked him once more, but he gave the same response.

The witness said Adams exited the room, went to the kitchen, and eventually went outside. He said he was called outside and threatened.

The witness testified that he then noticed four other policemen dressed in denim coming from behind the house.

He said the cops congregated by the police service vehicle and a station wagon motor car talking to a man who is said to have resided at the same house as Trought.

He said they left shortly after.

The Clarendon resident also testified to seeing the policemen on a number of occasions before the fateful day and identified them in court.

Adams, who was in custody since 2014, was on April 25 offered bail in the sum of $5 million.

He was earlier this year freed of a murder charge and is awaiting trial for another.